Exodus 15:16-26

16 Terror and dread fall upon them. They see your strength, O Lord, and stand helpless with fear until your people have marched past - the people you set free from slavery.

17 You bring them in and plant them on your mountain, the place that you, Lord, have chosen for your home, the Temple that you yourself have built.

18 You, Lord, will be king forever and ever."

19 The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. But when the Egyptian chariots with their horses and drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought the water back, and it covered them.

20 The prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took her tambourine, and all the women followed her, playing tambourines and dancing.

21 Miriam sang for them: "Sing to the Lord, because he has won a glorious victory; he has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea."

22 Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they walked through the desert, but found no water.

23 Then they came to a place called Marah, but the water there was so bitter that they could not drink it. That is why it was named Marah.

24 The people complained to Moses and asked, "What are we going to drink?"

25 Moses prayed earnestly to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood, which he threw into the water; and the water became fit to drink. ¹ There the Lord gave them laws to live by, and there he also tested them.

26 He said, "If you will obey me completely by doing what I consider right and by keeping my commands, I will not punish you with any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the Lord, the one who heals you."

Exodus 15:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 15

This chapter contains the song of Moses, and of the children of Israel, on the banks of the Red sea; in which they celebrate their passage through it, the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it, and the glory of the divine perfections displayed therein, interspersed with prophetic hints of things future, Ex 15:1-19 which same song was sung by the women, with Miriam at the head of them, attended with timbrels and dances, Ex 15:20,21, an account is given of the march of the children of Israel from the Red sea to the wilderness of Shur, and of the bitter waters found at Marah, which occasioned a murmuring, and of their being made sweet by casting a tree into them, Ex 15:22-25 when they were told by the Lord, that if they would yield obedience to his commandments, they should be free from the diseases the Egyptians had been afflicted with, Ex 15:26, and the chapter is concluded with their coming to Elim, where they found twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees, and there encamped, Ex 15:27.

Cross References

• 1. +215.25Ben Sira 38.5.

Footnotes

• [a]. marah: [This name in Hebrew means "bitter."]